Sprint Session Frequency?

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

For some context, I’m around 13 stone, 26 years old and 5 ft 10. I’d estimate about 10-12% bodyfat. I’ve always been pretty sporty and have always been left disappointed (physique and enjoyment wise) when I’ve shifted my attention 100% to the weights or to the sports side of things. In attempting to find a fairly even balance, would you say that this sort of program is balanced, not ‘‘too much’’ conditioning etc that will burn me out?

Day 1- Weights
Day 2- Sprints
Day 3- Weights
Day 4- OFF
Day 5- Sprints
Day 6- Weights (upper)
Day 7- Sprints
Day 8- OFF
etc

Works out at 3 sprint sessions a week- is this too much? The sprint sessions are usually 30-40 minutes duration, aiming to cover ~1000m sprinting, i.e. (6x100m and 8x50m) or (10x75m and 5x50m).

2

No one here can say for sure, as the answer’s entirely based on your results/experience and how you respond. Pay close attention to your performance and be ready to adjust accordingly.

Personally, I can’t sprint 3x/wk and even 2x/wk tends to adversely affect my current lifting/goals. But while once a week is my sweet spot, again, that just has zero bearing on your own training

3

A few years ago I did intervals ( close enough to sprints in my book) on a treadmill 3x a week and got leaner. I did feel a bit drawn after a couple of weeks, so if I were doing it again I’d likely only do it two days a week.

4

As stated already it depends on your individual ability to recover. For me, twice a week is perfect from both a results and recovery perspective.

5

I would vote for 2 sprint sessions. Both should be slightly different.

eg:
session 1: 4x 300m sprints, 10x 15m hill sprints

session 2: 8x 100m sprints, 8x 10m sprints

and then after 6 weeks mix it up again

tweet tweet

6

Evidently, it’s against the rules to post a link to a website in the forum. My apologies to Mod Phoenix.

Anyway, Kelly Baggett has written extensively on sprinting and strength training so if you conduct a web search for that name, hopefully, you can find the help you are looking for.

7

What is your goal? are you trying to lose fat or actually get faster?

Twice a week is definately the most optimal frequency for flat out sprinting in my book. I tried 3 times a week and never felt fully recovered between sessions and ultimately felt like shit. I would strongly recommend that you pair your sprinting and weights on the same day so as to allow even more recovery between sessions. Less is definately more when it comes to improving sprinting speed.